11.14.16

ASN Morning Read: A Chance to Right the Ship

That's the nice thing about soccer, isn't it? There's always another game, right around the corner. The Americans look to bounce back from a defeat at the hands of Mexico, heading to Costa Rica.

BY
Noah Davis
Posted
November 13, 2016
10:00 PM

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Tim Howard might miss the rest of the Major League Soccer season with an adductor injury: "The source told ESPN FC the injury will require a recovery time measured in 'months, not weeks,' and such a timeline would render the Colorado Rapids goalkeeper unavailable for the remainder of the MLS playoffs."

Klinsmann: "The message is very simple: We've got to go down there and get a result, which we will do. [Mexico is] the first of 10 qualifying games. It’s obviously the big one—Mexico is the biggest one we play—but we always know that with Mexico it's guys eye-to-eye and it’s going to be a nail-biter. Sometimes it goes their way and other times it goes our way. I told them we’re going to correct it for Costa Rica and then in summer time we'll go to Azteca and go for it at their home. It’s just part of the qualifying process, the whole long road."

More on that theme: "Angry. Upset. Disappointed. Frustrated. Those were the adjectives used by U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann and his team Friday after the Americans lost 2-1 to Mexico, and for good reason. The players had every right to be distressed by Klinsmann's overthought and ultimately unsuccessful decision to employ a 3-5-2 formation—one they had rarely, if ever, used during his five-plus years at the helm."